Greenspoint Mall Update June 2011

Also check out my recreated San Jacinto Mall article just below.

Greenspoint Mall has slowly been re-positioning the mall into an shopping and entertainment complex. The initial plans to redevelop the center came in the late 1990's but never materialized. The second round of redevelopment plans entitled the renaissance at Greenspoint has moved forward with a new white paint job for the entire outside of the mall, new advertisement signs around the mall, and the Premier Cinema opening. A few new stores have opened mostly near Macy's but several chain stores have left the mall including Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, and Payless Shoes. The mall is being marketed as a place to shop, workout, eat, and watch a movie. The mall company has ambitious plans for redevelopment including a 25 story office tower behind the mall which seems unlikely since Exxon is taking several thousand square feet of office space down the road to a new development leaving all of their Greenspoint space empty. The owners of the mall should develop the old Montgomery Ward into a Mercado similar to at the PlazAmericas Mall former JCPenney space. The former Sears could be divided up and made into a Marshalls/ Sports Authority store. Since there is a gym outside of the mall and the current anchor stores have mostly clearance merchandise this would be a creative way to bring the dead anchors back to life. I would even suggest that Dillard's upgrades their store and brings back half of the store to feature non-clearance items like in a regular store. Macy's seems to be adding more clearance areas and decreasing the regular merchandise.

The Premier Cinema is now open and the mall reopened the dead mall corridor that led to the former JCPenney. The cinema really brings new life into this part of the mall.

Macy's; look at the top of the glass and you can see a light on the closed second floor. I don't know how much longer Macy's will stay here. The inventory seems to have thinned out significantly and there were several areas of clearance merchandise throughout the store. Foley's had closed most of the second floor over the years. When Macy's took over they closed the last part of the second floor off and consolidated the cellar merchandise on the first floor.

This mall corridor had been closed for over ten years, but it is now the entrance to the cinema.

A look towards Palais Royal from the crossroads between the Macy's wing, Cinema wing, and CiCi's pizza wing.

The side of the Footaction that was covered up for over ten years really looks dated compared to the front of the store.

The inside of the former FYE near the Dillard's. This store has been closed for over two years and was being used as a place to test for STD's the night we went to the mall.

These are from the Sears that closed last year; in the first photo you can see into the part of the mall corridor that was walled off when Sears closed.

This is the hardware/ lawn & garden/ fitness section of the Sears. I took some photos in this area when the store was closing.

Montgomery Ward also has a fresh coat of paint and the worksource has moved out. I am not sure if this anchor is about to be redeveloped or if the owners are marketing the building again. The mall has several new banners promoting the different things to do here including this one. This Montgomery Ward store lasted until the end of the company in 2001. This was the store I visited several times as a kid and young adult.

Large and bulky; the Montgomery Ward buildings were built to look larger than they were inside.

This entrance reminds me of the San Jacinto entrance with the MW on the door handle and Wards stickers.

Here are some views taken through various windows around the building.

Unfortunately the only parts of the store that are visible are the former clothing departments. Electric Avenue is partially visible in the above photo with the black background in the middle.

Are these boxes part of an upcoming redevelopment or just storage for another business?

This escalator has never looked lonelier than it does now.

This was the mall entrance; a bag has been placed over the former entrance but there are several holes to see the inside of the store.